How Well Do You Know...

So i am a facebook addict-most days, anyway. I am blown away by Web 2.0 and how it has changed the way we do business in many ways (have you noticed how many of your favorite brands, bakeries, sportsmen and celebrities are on Facebook and Twitter now? It's amazing!) With social networking sites becoming veritable universes for people to spend a good amount of their time (whether via a mobile or a PC) it is obvious that Facebook and other social networking sites create opportunities to entertain their growing fan base.
One particular avenue of entertainment is that whole slew of inane quizzes that you can take that 'help' answer questions such as " What Cocktail are you" (duh!), "What City Are you meant to live in?" (slightly useful) etc.
So on a particularly random evening when i was killing time on facebook, i stumbled upon a reverse-quiz: this quiz that YOU create for your friends to discover how well they really know you. So sure- i took a stab at it-put together a pretty lame quiz (with the help of suggested questions) that provide some insight into who i am (really?).

Turns out-people did really well on my quiz, even those who did not know me as well as say my best friends(i repeat the word ' lame' here). Some of them created their own quiz and subsequently, some of us (yes, including me) did not score too favorably on their friends' quizzes. I even know of a wife who scored a measly 30% on her husband's quiz. Ha!! Do i need to repeat a certain word again?

So i got thinking (and not merely to defend my bad scores)-can we really tell who is a good friend based on whether they know our favorite karaoke song, or what our nicknames were as kids? Does it matter if my best friend knows what my favorite colors are, or whether i prefer perfumes to shoes as gifts? (ok i agree- the last one might be a useful fact to know!)

Are these bits of trivia critical, especially in a day and age when our best buddies are globally dispersed across multiple cities, time zones and careers-and our conversations are more through these social networking technologies and email than through in-person tete-a-tetes?

So as our world and lives change, who should we still value as a good friend?
Someone who you can talk to, no matter how long its been since you last met, without having to wonder what to talk about? Or should it be someone who remembers what my favorite drink in college was? What about close friends that i made after i was out of college? Do they not qualify as good friends because they did not know which city i was born in or which is my favorite dessert even if we share values and opinions and have a whole bunch of memories to laugh over?

Facebook creates these quizzes as a way to have fun, spark new conversations, trigger new threads. And yes-these things are fun, including the fake banter and tantrums and declarations of 'Fraud' that they may spark off.

But fun apart-i realise that the friends i really care about are those that bother to stay aware of what's going on in my life, who can laugh with me about some silly gossip, who are there for me when i need to vent about something, with whom i can pick up from where i left off the last time we met, people i really look forward to seeing and talking with...isnt that what friendship is really about?


Dedicated to my girls-you know who you are! :)

Picking Favorites

I noticed a trend in how i pick favorites when it comes to cities:those clusters of land and people, food and fashion, history and modernity, art and culture-each city has its unique share that goes on to define its personality (yes- i do believe that cities have personalities!)
I cant say i am a world traveler at all, but in the last couple of years were marked by a sudden spurt of traveling for me (a spurt that subsided when the economic crisis hit..lol!) and i do have some favorites by now.
So i got to thinking: what made a city tick for me? Was it the history and culture of a city that peeks out on every corner, in every other building or square? Or perhaps its the gastronomical delights that a city offers through a myriad range of cosy eateries, upscale restaurants and street-side cafes that dish out really good food? Could it be the glittering show-windows of high fashion and couture that make my spirits soar? Or could it be the vast range of neighborhoods each begging to be explored for its own merits? And then again-could it be the weather and the walkability factor of a city that i value most?

I realised that in some measure-all of these factors play it out for top score, with varying degrees of importance. and yet-the cities i have loved, adored and would move to in a heartbeat if i could were the ones that were hugely walkable, had fabulous food (i am sorry, but mediocre Indian and Chinese food of Seattle does not score high points for me!) and had huge doses of culture, history and a distinct sense of freedom and liberation that you can only identify as you get closer to the pulse of the city-the spirit that reveals itself more so in the side streets than it does in the oft-trodden touristy lanes.

So when i moved to a more interesting part of the city i live in-a neighborhood that has more for me to explore on foot (even though we have a 2 car garage for our ONE car to sprawl out comfortably in!), that is green every where i look, has a historic old town and wonderful neighborhood restaurants, supports local communities and farmers, and is so beautifully connected by public transport- my heart soared. This may not be New York or Rome or Mumbai or Paris-but yet, its home for now and it ends up meeting my hygeine factors without the price tag of New York or the langauge barrier of Paris or the sizzling heat of Mumbai (could not come up with anything not positive for Rome-that is one perfect city, eh!).

But the love for travel remains. As we put on our global marketing hats, it becomes all the more critical to understand how each individual market is unique, even if we may be selling a global product. There are some things you can learn best about a city's people by being one with them-even if it's just for a weekend or a work-related conference. So the next time you walk into a Starbucks in Amsterdam possibly asking for the same Pike Place brew that you get in Seattle, take time to notice the difference in your experience. Because there will be one!

Another ode to Bombay-just because...

At a dinner party last night, i met someone who's been in Seattle for ten years or more(i dont know the exact time) bu from Bombay originally-and in due course of small talk, Bombay came up. Let's just say Bombay's been a pet topic for us here for a while now-what with Nov 26 and Slumdog Millionaire and the fact that the couple hosting the dinner were just back from Bombay after getting married there. For me, Bombay is a conversation piece in any world, at any time-simply because i love that city so much. And so it was a rude shock to hear a former Bombayite say " Yeah, everyone who goes on and on about Bombay-let's remind them of the traffic and the chaos. Let's keep them honest. They sometimes tend to get ahead of themselves" or something to that effect. The Bombayite in me was obviously not amused. It was almost offensive to me-given my current state of homesickness. And then i wondered-do i even have a right to defend that city anymore? I, who has not been there for over a year now, but still living in the image i have of the Bombay i knew as a care-free student, in love,and living it up in the city of dreams and freedom and rock music in bars. Am i all starry-eyed about Bombay because i am not physically there, and i do not know experience first-hand the traffic snarls, the daily grind, and the challenges of living in a city that is splitting at its seams?

A friend was recently telling me of how her parents recently visited her in Bombay, and she took them to her favorite haunts. I was saddened to find i barely recognized one or two from her list. It scares me sometimes-to lose touch with Bombay. I almost dread going back there sometime and finding that everything has changed. The places i loved are gone, replaced by spanking new haunts that arent yet familiar to me. I worry-am i clinging on to the ghost of the past, while i am increasingly growing distant (literally) from everything that city represents and means to me. Are my annual trips to New York in search of that 'near-Bombay' feeling a foolish attempt to hold on?

And then i remember-that Marine Drive is not going away in a hurry. That Bandstand will always have Bandra's diaspora walking their dogs or working off the stress in their lives as they run, that I'll always be able to go back to a well-loved campus in Andheri and drink nimboo pani and that Bombay will always be, if nothing else, a city that embraces. A city that keeps abuzz and makes everyone that comes along to its shores and stays awhile, its own. And so-sure, i'll have the 'return to culture' hiccups, but i'll soon get immersed in the Bombay-ness of it all, all over again. And stay in love. That is the hope.

On House Arrest: A week and Counting

So it turns out i chose a really, really bad week to work from home. My harmless self-preservation directed attempt to stay warm at home attending 7 am live meetings instead of walking to work in below freezing weather all through last week came back and bit me!
Mid week when i was about ready to brace myself to get to the office (holiday season notwithstanding) just to get out we were hearing warnings about a bad snow storm creeping up on Seattle. Now it's important to understand-that unlike the northeast where snow is a given, mundane even-it gets elevated to 'elite' status here in the Northwest simply because we just dont know how to deal with it. The joy of a White Christmas aside, the hilly terrain and slopes all over our region makes driving with snow impossible around here unless you have a 4 wheel drive (which too isnt helping this year!) So when 7 inches of snow joins hands with below-freezing temperatures-the snow doesnt get even a chance to melt into puddly nothingness. Instead it freezes wickedly into ice (or worse-invisible 'black' ice on the roads that takes you for a scary spin with your tyres getting absolutely no traction however hard the DTC on your swanky car tries)and then-the storm dumps a fresh layer of snow on old ice for a perfect disaster waiting to happen.
Now i agree i am dripping with weatherman-speak, but i am fed up! Fed up of being cooped up at home with snow all and around, fed up of trying to make exotic food at home when all i am craving is a cocktail and crappy fries at my favorite watering hole. Fed up of being on house arrest watching tv, checking email (did i mention-with the whole company attempting to login from home, we had major issues getting Outlook access the first day the storm came), doing laundry and pacing up and down the length of my tiny apartment as the only alternative to the 30 minute walking i am used to most days.
It's Sunday evening-and i never thought i'd ever say this but- i am dying to go to work Monday morning. But by the looks of things-it's looking bleak. Sigh. Please go away snow and send us back the rain showers that we have learnt to live with. I want 'normal' back.

Switching Roles?

There are days when I come home from work and find myself sitting around doing..absolutely nothing!
Not watching tv, not surfing, not cleaning, not even stirring from my position of stillness to pick up the phone ringing off its hook. No- I am just lying there sprawled on the couch, thinking nothing, feeling nothing -just frozen in a haze of the zero.
I wonder whether this is a bio-chemical reaction to exhaustion (not that I lift and carry heavy stones for a living!) when my brain cells churn to a slow halt, or purely a psychological house-keeping reaction. In any case, it’s a temporary system crash till my brain does an automatic re-start.
Which brings me to draw an obvious parallel between myself and my laptop-are we both similar in that we follow the code, open/close windows as directed, operate on a system based on pre-entered knowledge but occasionally give in to that momentary lapse of reason? Are human beings increasingly becoming machines, just when we are taking these grand steps towards making machines more human?
Cisco talks about ‘the human network’. There are smart washing machines that come with a hand-wash option and there are refrigerators that will eventually learn to place orders to the grocery store when they are running out of milk. Your car reminds you to put on your seat-belt the way your mom constantly reminded you to tie your shoe-lace and did not stop till you did. There are tools that tell you which way to turn to get to that steakhouse instead of the chemical reactions bubbling away in your brain-the reactions that build memory from images you’ve seen and thoughts you have unconsciously thought. There is even an ad that goes ‘When you turn on your car, does it return the favor’.
And then here we are-with our often-mechanical existence. We get up like clockwork every day, brush our teeth the exact same way each morning, reach out to turn on the shower with the exact same movements as the day before, taking precisely the same amount of time to get showered (except on days you are wearing a skirt and need to shave your legs of course!) and dressed. We flip through tv channels without really stopping to pause on any one; we no longer remember what encyclopedias were, unless you mean the Wikipedia sites that you browse every now and then.
So is life becoming a perpetual episode of ‘Trading spaces’ between us and the machines that we cannot live without now? Is there anything wrong with leaning towards a more efficient, system-driven (some may say lazier) way of life? Probably not-as long as we still remember to smell the roses as we turn into our driveways, to laugh at George Bush being mimicked, to get those warm fuzzies when we snuggle into our loved one’s arms and to cry over old, sappy movies when boy-met-girl.

What's a Girl to do when...

She sees the perfect berry-toned shoe (the must-have color this fall!) down 40% on sale?
....Of course-she flicks out her wallet.


The husband is out for the week on wretched business travel leaving her to sleep alone each night?
....Hang out with her girlfriends for shopping and mojitos, but start to feel ever so blue again as she turns the key to the empty apartment.

She misses her girlfriends from back home?
....Watch Sex and the City re-runs , sigh and pick up the phone..

That divine-looking cheesecake slice lures her from under the glitzy lights of a charming bakery?
....Drool, painfully calculate the calories and walk in through the door anyway.

Her skinny jeans refuse to button up (probably after the cheesecake adventure)?
....Do a couple of quick lunges, hold her breath and get the job done.

That expensive trip to the salon leaves her with an unremarkable (or worse-terrible) haircut?
....Tie the remaining hair into a determined little ponytail and march back to the rogue hair stylist for damage control.

She’s running late for work and can’t decide what to wear that day?
....Take a deep breath, pause to think about that lovely gray eye pencil she bought the day before, and pull out jeans and a black sweater.

There is a fight for the remote control-Food Network or Monday Night Football?
....Hmmm-no solution arrived at so far.

It’s one of those days when work is frustratingly slow and uninspiring?
....Oh that’s easy-BLOG:-)

The books that changed my life..

Books. An old love. Paperback or hard-cover, squeaky-clean from a bookstore or dog-earred from a thrift store- i love em all. From the time i first devoured an Enid Blyton (i believe it all started with Mr Noddy back then) to today's Ladies Detective Series, not too much has changed. As a kid I could stay curled up on bed forgetting homework and read a Five Find Outers mystery from start to finish. I still can sit for hours (when time permits) in a coffee shop reading a tome from cover to cover, but taking time to people-watch in between! So i got to thinking about all the books that made a difference to my life in one way or another. And from a whole sea of names, i came up with the following:

The Enchanted Wood series by Enid Blyton.
You gotta bow down and accept this woman as the demi-goddess of fairy tales . I mean-hello, i had myself dreaming about climbing the faraway tree and actually hoping (against hope) that it might really exist somewhere in a thick wood in England. What a magical time it was. My favorite bit about the book remains the Slippery Slip down the trunk of the tree. Wah twouldnt i give for a ride like that!


The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
I read this book primarily to understand what the hype was all about (and yes there was a big noise about this one). I am glad i did. This book was my first experience with 'pretty words' and intense dramaticization that left you feeling like you just survived an earthquake. Since then- i have grown to like books in the same genre (Notes on a Scandal, On Beauty, Atonement, Amsterdam) but i will remember this one as the first. Oh-and did mention: talking about this book also got me through an interview to B-school. Pretty darn significant then!

Marley and Me: life and love with the world's worst dog by John Grogan
Put your hands together for Marley-coz you are going to love him (despite the fact that he could potentially swallow your gold chain or chow down your pay check). I have cried buckets at the end of this book, laughed till my sides hurt all the way through and essentially felt warm and fuzzy all over. And let's face it-you can't find a better companion than this lovable lab on a flight from the east coast to the west. I never travel long distance without this guy. and i am cheering for the movie whenever it comes.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Mark Darcy. Mark Darcy. Mark Darcy. Enough said.
(P.S: And then Colin Firth came along and hit the ball out of the park. Even a feminist would melt)

The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie
I admit-this one was a little eerie. But it got me through some lonely days (and even longer, lonelier nights) in a strange village in Rajasthan when i was alone, miserable and supposedly working on a totally derailed ' corporate social responsibility' project. And for that reason- it made this list. And yes-it had a whole dictionary full of pretty words. More intellectual gratification, eh?


Two Lipsticks and a Lover by Helena Frith Powell
A funny narrative of an English woman unraveling the mystery behing why French women can look unbelievably gorgeous in jeans and an old jumper-this book reaffirmed my faith in being lazy and still looking good. And that's the dream, isnt it? I think all vain women (which means ALL women really) who aspire to look and feel beautiful always need to read this one. It's not to be missed.

The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer
This is a scary one. It makes you wonder-what if this were really possible? What must it feel like to live your life backwards? Well- you get to know up, close and personal with this one. It's an intense love story at heart really-but in the most unusual setting.And yes-it did get me hooked to reading life-spanners as i call them: books that take you through the entire life of a character. And there is something very final about these stories. There is nothing left to imagine-because there isnt an ever after at the end. But you still wonder -what if?
(Others in this type that i enjoyed: The Stone Dairies, Water for Elephants)

I am sure there are many more fictional worlds that i love or will love. but for now-these rule the roost. I'll come back in a few years and make an update:)